Tsunamis, Suitcases, & Chapas

Welcome back! I am SO thankful for all of you who keep coming back to my blog and leaving comments...PLEASE know that i look at them everyday and i am so encouraged by your words...i wish i could write back to all of you daily, but i don't think there is enough time in the day...so please keep 'em coming! This is my 2nd week in Mozambique. Alot has happened and i will try to keep it short & sweet~but God has already done some amazing things! I have a few stories to share....

* Day 1 in Mozambique: How do you pack for a year in Africa!? Well...i'm sure some did it better than me...BUT i did pretty darn good if i say so myself! haha...i really tried not to pack too much...you are allowed 2 checked bags @ 50lbs each & one carry-on (including a purse or backpack). Well....i decided to try for 4 bags @50 lb, a small suitcase carry-on and a rather large purse! I was prepared to pay extra & it all worked out. Before you bad mouth me, 1 suitcase was totally full of school stuff and the other bags had some school stuff in them too! I did have to always ask a man to help me put my carry-on suitcase in the overhead bin b/c it was like 40lb!! hahaha...anyways...it is always a toss up on whether your bags will actually make it to africa...and 3 out of 4 did! The one missing...the school bag. I was thankful it was not my clothes or tolietries...but sad that i did not have my cute school stuff for my room! We went to the 'lost luggage' office...not only is there a language barrier but we were missing the luggage tag and did not know which suitcase # to look for...this complicated matters and she would only report one number missing. We just guessed at the number since we had the other two tags. We checked back a couple of days during the week....and no luck. They have this room that is piled floor to ceiling of suitcases...its ridiculous! I had not lost total hope...i knew it would show-God brought me here to teach-He was not going to let my suitcase get lost!!
6 days later, on Sunday night Dave came in my room and said "You wanna go to the airport, they have your bag!" Jesus is good. He is faithful and He knew how badly I wanted that suitcase and how much time, thought, and money i had put into the materials that i decided to bring with me. Thank you Jesus for bringing my bag safely to Mozambique.
(PS...my classroom looks ALOT cuter now...more pics later!)

*DAY 3- This was my 1st day of school. My day was good, a little crazy, but good! Becca and I were picked up by our host family and we just hung out at the house after school. Ann & Dave (host fam) had meetings all afternoon until dinner. We were going to meet them for dinner that night. So around 8ish i get a phone call from Dave and he says "Lindsay, I don't want to alarm you but there has been an earthquake in Indonesia and a tsunami is expected to hit Maputo and we may have to evacuate. I need you to get online and find out any info you can. I'm filling the cars up w/ gas, be home in a min." click. ummmm...ok. awesome. So i of course say..."BECCA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" hahaha...real calm of me right!? The next thing i do is call mom....i probably overreacted...but tsunami is not a word you mess around with! So we look it up and in fact there is a tsunami bulletin saying that the Indian Ocean is in danger and most of the eastern coast of Africa, including Maputo, Mozambique are expected to be hit. It was estimated to arrive in Maputo @ 10-11pm. FYI, we live like 5 min. from beach. SO....we wait for Ann & Dave to get in w/ 4 other OMS men who are visiting from the states and they pile around the computer and tv. They decided we were ok in our 'house' b/c we are 250 feet above sea level and that to drive to South Africa we would have to travel towards sea level....so we decide to 'wait it out'. haha...we ordered MIMMO'S pizza (which is YUMMY). I can honestly say that except for the initial shock i was rather calm. I don't know....i just felt like we were going to be ok. 10:00 rolled by and 11:00 and i finally fell asleep. There was no tsunami, not even close...but what a welcome huh? :)
"...whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe." proverbs 29:25

*Day 5- I found a RUNNING PARTNER!!! She teaches at CAM w/ me and her name is Katie-see MY FRIENDS for her blog website! She runs actually more than i do and invited me to run with her! I have not been so excited to run in a while! I have since run w/ her twice this week, Monday and today (Wed). I will take pics of the path we run, it is right along the Indian Ocean...BEAUTIFUL. And we have the best running partner, GISMO. He is a Rhodesian Ridgeback dog...and they are known for hunting & killng LIONS...yes thats right. Apparently a pack of them can take down a lion. Due to the history of this dog the Mozambiquens are very afraid of him. They literally jump when we pass by. More on running later! God sees the details of our lives...He knows I like to run and He has provided a way for me to run with someone and with a dog who makes me feel safe!

Day 6- I got to go to the orphanage for church! YEA! It was so weird being in Mozambique and not at the center! I was dropped off at the front gate and was walking across the soccer field when i hear, "L I N D S A Y!" I was like...who can see me all the way over here! (I was kinda far off) Obviously i am real white, but still....i just smiled and laughed b/c i could not tell who saw me. It was Vagner! He and some other boys were sitting around and they all were surprised to see me. When I told them i was here until June they were shocked & glad! I had lunch with Jimmy & Linda who are long term missionaries here from Texas! It was so good to see familiar faces. It felt like home. They had my computer cord for me as well...i had forgotten it at home and someone visiting the orphanage from the states brought it to me. THANK YOU JESUS!!!! Today was a gooooooooood day. I saw friends, got my suitcase, and my computer power cord!

Since i don't have a car here in Moz. and i don't have my international driver's license i rely on those around me who do. The orphanage is about 30 minutes outside of the city. So... Pascaol (hopefully coming to Texas soon!) and his friend rode the chapa or 'shoppa' with me back into town. The chapa is the local transportation. It is like a van. There are TONS of them and they are filled to the brim. Seriously, you think that they cant fit more people on, but they keep picking up more! They can be dangerous for foreigners and many get robbed if they are carrying anything. Therefore I don't ride them alone and always have a Mozambiquen w/me! I must get a picture to show you, you cant believe how many people they fit onto these things. It is crazy. The ride was over an hour...they stopped probably 10 times between IRIS and where we got off. So far my experiences have been fine...no problem. I have also been lucky enough to get on when it is almost empty so we get a seat. When your stop gets close you squeeze up the isle to get off. We got off early and walked the next few blocks. We stopped at the Shell gas station and i bought the guys a snack as a thank you for bringing me back home. It was such a good day...God blessed me so much this first week.

God gave this verse to me before i left to come here...Deut.2:25 "This very day I will begin to put the terror and fear of you on all the nations under heaven. They will hear reports of you and will tremble and be in anquish because of you."
It is talking about when God told Moses he would make the enemy afraid...Moses no longer had to worry about his enemy because they were already afraid of him! GOD OFTEN GOES BEFORE US IN OUR DAILY BATTLES, PREPARING THE WAY AND OVERCOMING BARRIERS. WE NEED TO FOLLOW HIM WHOLEHEARTEDLY AND BE ALERT TO HIS LEADING.

To me this verse shows me that God knew all of these things were going to happen...and He went ahead and prepared the way for me. All of the things above were things I was worried about and upset about, but He is faitful and He already had it taken care of...reminding me again that i need to follow Him with all my heart so that i can be alert to His leading. He is taking care of me. He is taking care of you too. Be blessed today...thank you for reading this far! Be thankful for what you have...there are so many things i miss about America, Texas, home. We do not know what we have until it is not available to us. Be thankful today for the small things God has given you....like clean water so you don't have to use bottled water to brush your teeth...! haha...seriously! try it...it's not fun. miss you! talk to you soon. ciao.